Pocket-knife.



J. V. WEGKBAUGH.

POCKET KNIFE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27, 1910.

1,029,564, Patented June 11,1912.

I s Wm VIA JOSEPH V. WECKBAUGI-I, 01? DENVER, COLORADO.

POCKET-KNIFE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1912.

Application filed December 27, 1910. Serial No. 599,436.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH V. 120K- BAUGH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pocket- Knives; andI' do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in pocket knives.

Heretofore so far as I am aware, the handles and blades roughly madehave been assembled, after which the knife is finished by workmen who byhand manipulation in connection with grinding, smoothing and polishingdevices finally produce the finished article.

The object of my present invention is to make it practicable tomanufacture the handles and blades separately, and my improvement in therough and applying false tangs to the handles and then finishing thehandles with the tangs in place, the said false tangs taking the placeof the blades for the aforesaid purpose.

My improvement is particularly adapted for use in connect-ion withknives whose blades are readily attachable and detachable, and theblades and handles with the false tangs will be sold separately and thuskept in stock by the dealer. The purchaser of the knife will then decideon the style of blade or blades which he wishes for his knife. It willbe understood that various sizes and styles of blades may be employed inconnection with the same handle, the tangs of the blades, however, beingall of the same pattern and the false tangs contained in the handlebeing substantial duplicates of the tangs forming parts of the bladeswhich are intended for the corresponding handle.

Having briefly outlined the invention I will proceed to describe thesame in detail,

reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which isillustrated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawing: Figure 1 1s a view showpermits of forming the handlesin the direction of arrow 2. Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 1, butshowing the tangs 1n a different pos1tion. Fig. 4: is a similar view,but showing the blades in place instead of the false tangs. Fig. 5 is aview similar to Fig. 4, but showing the blades in different positions.Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 6-6, Fig. l. Fig.

7 is a detail view of one of Fig. 8 is a detail view of one of theblades.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate the two sides of the handle of a knifemanufactured in accordance with my improvement. The main spring 6 isinterposed between the two handle members in the usual manner, beingheld in place by a centrally located pin 7. The two tangs are eachdesignated 8, being respectively located in the opposite extremities ofthe handle and held in place by removable pivots composed of male andfemale members 9 and 10, the member 9 consisting of a screw and themember 10 having an interiorly threaded recess adapted to receive thesaid screw. By unscrewing the member 9 or detaching it from the member10, the pivot pin may be removed, leaving the tang loose. The tangs inthe construction illustrated in the drawing are so formed that the faces12 that are adjacent the extremities of the spring or in contacttherewith when the tangs are in the positions corresponding with thehalfopen position of the blades, are nearer the center of the pivot pinthan the face 13, this difference being such that there is no tension onthem when in this position, thus making it easy to remove the tangs andsubstitute blades and also remove one set of blades and substituteanother set, since when the blades 14 are in corresponding positionsthey are also relieved from the tension of the spring, the tangs of theblades being duplicates of the false tangs in this respect.

From the foregoing description my improvement will be readilyunderstood. .The handle members 5 together with the spring and falsetangs 8 are manufactured in the rough and assembled as illustrated inFigs.

the false tangs.

1, 2 and 3. They are then finished by hand manipulation in connectionwith various machines for grinding, polishing and smoothing the variousparts of the device when in the assembled relation. 7 Afterthisoperation is completed, the handles are ready to receive bladeshaving tangs of substantially the same pattern as the false tangsoriginally contained in the handle. tangs are provided with recesses 15into which a pin or other suitable device may be inserted for thepurpose of manipulating the tangs in the same manner as blades aremanipulated.

Attention is called to thefact'that the tangs of the blades employed asillustrated in-the drawing, have three fa'ces 16,17 and 18, the face 17being nearer the center of the pivot pin than either of the faces 16 or18,

the distance of the face 17 from the center of the said pivot being suchas to relieve the blade from the tension of the spring 6 when the bladeis in the half-open position. In the case of the false tangs, they'areequipped with two faces 12 and 13 which respectively correspond with thefaces 17 and 16 of the blades, which maybe placed in the handle Thefalse' tangs have no face corresponding with the.

in the place of the false tangs.

face 18 of the blade, but they have a curved face 19, the curve of whichcorresponds with the adjacent extremity of the handle 6, mak-j ing itpracticable to finish the handle when v Copies of this patent may beobtained for the space between its two parts is filled, thusfacilitating the operation as compared with finishing the knife with theblade in place, in which event, assuming that the blade is closed, thereis always a space beyond the blade at the handle extremity.

WVith reference to the false tangs, there is no necessity for havingmore than the two faces 12 and 13, the face13 engaging the spring whenthe tang is under tension, and the face 12 being in engagement oradjacent to the spring when the tang is relieved. In the case of theblade the face 18 is necessary, since it engages the spring when theblade is closed. hen the tang is in the position shown in Fig. 1, itcorresponds with the position of the wide open, but if the' blade werein place and wide open, it would of course be impracticable to finishthe handle extremity with the same facility that is permitted with thetang in place. Hence by virtue of my improvement the facilitated, inaddition to making it practicable to finish the handles and bladesseparately. a

In thls specification the term false tang The false blade when thelatter is finishing of the handle is must be considered to include aduplicate, pattern or other dummy device composed of any suitablematerial and adapted to occupy the position within the handle extremityof the knife which the tang or pivoted end of the blade occupies afterthe blade is inserted.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A handle for pocket knives equipped with a main spring and aremovable false tang fitted into the end of the handle and pivoted totake the place of a blade tang, which may be substituted for the falsetang, the latter being shaped to exactly fill the tang end of the handlewhen in a position corresponding with the open position of the blade,the said false tang having three faces, the first and second of whichare shaped to respectively engage the spring when inpositionscorresponding with the open and intermediate positions of a blade, thesecond face of the false tang being nearer the pivot than the firstface, whereby the false tang is relieved from tension when the' secondface is adjacent to the spring, the tang, however, at such time beingprevented from assuming either of the positions corresponding withtheopen or closed positions of a real blade without placing the springunder tension, the third face being flush with the exterior surface ofthe end of the handle when the tang is in position corresponding to theopen position of the blade. 1

2. A knife blade provided with a main spring and a removable false tangpivoted to take theplace of a blade tang and provided with three faces,the first of which is engaged by the said spring to place the tang undertension when the tang is in the position corresponding with the openposition of a blade, the third face at the same time being flush withthe outer surface of the end of the handle, the second face being nearerthe pivot than the first face whereby the tang is relieved from tensionwhen in a position corresponding to the position of a blade whenintermediate the open and closed positions, the second face, however,when in the last-named position being shaped to conform approximately tothe adjacent surface of the spring whereby the turning of the tang uponits pivot in either direction places the spring under tenslon.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature Witnesses:

F. E. BOWEN, A. EBERT OBRIEN.

Washington, D. G.

